Jack Batton

Infobox _ Officeholder
name=Jack Batton


nationality=American
office= Mayor of Minden, Webster Parish, Louisiana, USA
party=Democratic Party
term_start=1978
term_end=December 31, 1982
preceded=Jacob E. "Pat" Patterson
succeeded=Noel "Gene" Byars
office2=Minden City Council member: Streets and Parks Commissioner
term_start2=1950
term_end2=1978
succeeded2=Position abolished under new charter
date of birth=birth date |1913|12|16
date of death=death date and age|1996|4|8|1913|12|16
place of birth=Minden, Louisiana
place of death=Minden, Louisiana
occupation=Businessman
spouse= Alice Shurtleff Batton (died 1973)(2) Lucille Z. Jones Batton (1916–2004, divorced)
children=Jackie Batton Reeves Jimmy Batton (1943–1997)Dorothy Batton Smith ]
religion=Methodist
footnotes=(1) Mayor Batton continued the municipally-owned power plant in his small city of Minden and pushed for expanded street paving and low-income housing projects during his tenure from 1978–1982.

(2) Though he made his living as a merchant and a cattleman, Batton served a total of thirty-two years in municipal government.

(3) Batton’s election as mayor coincided with the implementation of a new mayor-council government superseded the city commission format.

Jack Batton (December 16, 1913 – April 8, 1996) [http://ssdi.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/ssdi.cgi Social Security Death Index Interactive Search ] ] was a small businessman who served as the Democratic mayor of the small city of Minden, the seat of Webster Parish in northwestern Louisiana, for a single term from 1978–1982. Previously, Batton served on the Minden City Council in the former position of streets and parks commissioner from 1950–1978. He was a brother of former Webster Parish Sheriff John D. Batton (1911–1981), known as J.D. Batton, who served from 1952–1964.

Batton ran for mayor when the city commission format was replaced by that of the mayor-council. The incumbent, Jacob E. “Pat” Patterson, declined to seek a second term. In the jungle primary held on September 16, 1978, Batton won the mayor’s position by an 88-vote margin over his fellow Democrat, the late Orris R. Long, former executive director of the Chamber of Commerce. Batton polled 2,633 votes (50.8 percent) to Long’s 2,545 (49.2 percent)."Batton new Minden mayor; council runoff next", "Minden Press-Herald", September 18, 1978, p. 1]

In the same election, Peggy J. Staples became the first woman ever elected to the city council. She defeated fellow Democrat Ben Kinel, 733 (67 percent) to 359 (33 percent). Robert T. Tobin similarly became the first African American elected to the council in 1978, having defeated fellow Democrat J.D. Hampton, 519 (69.8 percent) to 225 (30.2 percent). And Republican Felix R. Garrett (1922–1987), formerly the public utilities commissioner, became the first member of his party to fill a single-member district seat on the city council. Batton did not seek reelection in 1982, when the educator, Noel "Gene" Byars, was elected mayor.

As mayor, Batton advocated continued municipal ownership of the light and power plant, first procured by the city during the 1958–1966 administration of Mayor Frank T. Norman. Batton worked to expand low-income housing and continued street paving. Batton operated his Batton’s Grocery Store for some four decades until his retirement in 1991. He was also a member of the Minden Fire Department from 1949–1989.

A cattleman, Batton owned the Minden Auction Barn and provided at no cost the arena used by the Minden Riding Club. He also raised horses.”Jack Batton dies at 82,” "Minden Press-Herald", April 9, 1996, p. 1] The facility was subsequently renamed the Jack Batton Arena. [ [http://www.nwlanews.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=8290&Itemid=57 nwlanews.com - Your home for news in Bossier and Webster Parishes ] ] Batton was a member of the Masonic lodge and the First United Methodist Church.

In 1986, Batton returned to the political fray in a bid to oust Byars. He used the slogan, "Get an Old Pro Off the Bench." Byars boasted of his accomplishments; $830,000 in street improvements, $9 million in new industry, and three hundred new jobs. Byars prevailed, 2,603 votes (53.6 percent) to Batton's 2,252 (46.4 percent). It was Batton's last political race. ["Mayor Byars in for second term", "Minden Press-Herald", September 28, 1986, p. 1]

Batton, a Minden native, graduated in 1932 from Minden High School, having played football in the fall of 1931. His first wife was the former Dorothy Alice Shurtleff (December 18, 1914–May 14, 1973), the daughter of A.C. Shurtleff (January 15, 1882 - September 16, 1928) and Cora Belle Shurtleff (February 1, 1888–December 16, 1960).

The Battons lived in a house made of brown rock at the intersection of Goodwill and Marshall streets in Minden. The football star David Lee of the former Baltimore Colts grew up in the same block as the Battons. The Battons had three children: Jackie Batton Reeves (born 1938) and husband, Henry Rogers Reeves (born ca. 1937), of Haughton in Bossier Parish; James Howard "Jimmy" Batton (1943–1997), a former Webster Parish sheriff’s deputy, and Dorothy Gale Batton Smith (born 1946) and husband, Harold Eugene Smith (born ca. 1940), of Waynesboro, Virginia. There were also five grandchildren. At the time of his death, Batton was divorced from the former Lucille Z. Jones (1916–2004), the widow of retired United States Army officer Rosamond Jones (1912–1980) of Minden.

Batton is interred in Section C of the Minden Cemetery.

References